CMYK, illustrations, and decisions

So once again, time has completely gotten away from me- how DOES that happen?! The last few weeks of madness trying to tie up loose ends with Iris (the Spanish proofer) has come to a close, she left to visit friends for a week before returning to Mexico. She's a bit unsure if she wants to do that since there will be few Christians in her area for support and encouragement if she stays there. That said, I'm a mere 3 courses away from finishing the Spanish CtP work! However, the Basic Bible Truths in English has been *something of a mess for a while and I've been pulled off of the Spanish for a while to work on English. Actually, I even got to work in 4 COLORS for a few days! This is a big deal- don't get me wrong, I've become quite fond of my 2 color work these 4 months (yes, 4 months, 4 1/2 now actually) and I've even developed an intimate understanding of just how much cool stuff can be done with a mere black and process cyan . . . BUT to be able to choose which ever color my little heart desires has been quite enjoyable :) Marianne is working on the new catalog of all the SLM materials, and it's in the works for many of them to get a cover make-over, so time was of the essence for the new cover to show up in the catalog even if it isn't on the books yet.

*something of a mess- Evidently about 2 years ago a designer was contracted to give the BBT series an overhaul, but from what I've read about his experience working on the lessons, he didn't quite understand that SLM is a missions organization and NOT a Christian publishing company- there is a big difference. And so unfortunately most of the work, while very modern, would never look nice coming off of our 2 color web press. That's where the fun and challenge in design here come in for me: to design something that has a fresh, more modern feel, while recognizing the capabilities of our less-than-modern press and tailoring the design accordingly. Additionally, while we have the covers for each of the 8 lessons in the series, we only have the finished body for 2 of them. So this is the new adventure I have embarked on . . . to honor the design decisions that WILL look good on our press and to fix the stuff that won't- and to have it all still look like it was done at the same time. The REALLY exciting part will come when I get to lessons 3-8: because we don't have his interior work for those, I get to re-draw ALL of the illustrations for them! The illustrator in me can scarcely contain herself!

In other news, I'm slated to speak to the middle school and high school students in Sunday School at a church in Eatonton on Sunday. Their entire missions conference this year is centered around SLM and Judy Strausbaugh, our human resources director, wants me to show some of my work from college and here at SLM and explain how I got my degree at a secular school, but with a heart to use it for Christ somehow and how God brought me here. I'm excited, hopefully I won't wander down any rabbit trails in the process and I'll speak slowly enough for them to understand. I think it's important for people everywhere, but especially kids getting ready to figure out what God wants them to do with their lives, to realize that missions work is not just going to Africa, it's also designers that work on the materials they teach with and builders who help out missions organizations with offices and headquarters and orphanages around the world. It's the IT guys that make sure our computers keep functioning so the women in the order room can send courses to the right people. It's also our pressmen, who do the actual work of getting God's Word down on paper where more people will get to read it than they could ever verbally tell in a lifetime. Those kind of missionaries aren't talked about much, but we network with our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world who ARE traditional missionaries and we try to provide them with tools that will make their difficult task easier.

Well, that's about it from the deep south ;) I hope you are all doing well and I am excited to hear about the revival services!

Busy times= so much to update on!

Hey there everyone! So as the title implies, I've been BUSY!! But it's been a good thing. The weekend following my last update, I rather reluctantly agreed to babysit for a marriage conference one of the larger churches down here was holding. You know how I am- Susan at the mission came up to me and asked for help and I couldn't say no :) I ended up with two young helpers and sixteen 3-6 year-olds on Friday evening. However it was amazing to see how God enabled me to take charge of all the interesting situations that came up as I ran into them. (Like the the 3-year old girl that kept taking off her pants and pull-up) So what I was originally dreading, for lack of feeling entirely competent, God used to show me it was His strength and abilities, not my own. All He really wanted from me was my willing obedience and diligence.

After busy evening, I'm back to continue my update during Friday lunch! I just received a card from my WONDERFUL small group at Mount Calvary- thanks again guys, I feel so loved! And FYI I'm really glad to hear everything worked out with the banners- yikes! The computer worked really hard, but sometimes it gave up and required a bit of prodding from yours truly, so I consider it something of a miracle that they went off without a hitch. I finally got the chance to start re-drawing some illustrations! Most of the previous old bitmaps I've dredged up from the depths could be spruced up with a bit of color and an altered line or tweaked anatomy here and there, but I finally ran into a few that just needed a fresh approach- and it was fun to draw people again! We're moving as fast as possible right now because today was technically supposed to be Iris' last day here, however she thinks she'll be staying next week too. She's still praying about the possibility of God keeping her here, but being Mexican, this would require a working visa rather than a tourism visa, and after looking into a religious work visa, she discovered she would need to be a member of SOL for 2 years for one to be valid for her. She is looking into working as an interpreter for a local hospital so she could at least stay in the area. God can do all things, so I am confident that if He wants her here, a visa could be produced quickly, however, if she cannot obtain an extension on her visitors visa long enough to get the working one, she will have to return home.

They finally started the addition to the print shop! There are trucks rumbling around just beyond my office wall as I type, I believe the footers are down and they are packing dirt around them now. Yesterday morning Michael and I also worked out the PDF settings necessary for me to save my InDesign files so they can be put into his impositions software to be ready for the rip- time consuming, but a big step and we discovered some great software shortcuts that look promising in the time-saving department for the future. Good news considering by early next week I hope to have 3 series imposition-ready- YAY!! Which is the other reason the print shop addition is so exciting at the moment: as soon as it is finished, we can set up the CTP and actually start printing plates so all the courses I've been re-designing for the last 3 1/2 months can actually be printed!

Sunday school was just amazing on Sunday. I'm not sure quite why I'm so amazed, because I've always believed children who have the Holy Spirit residing within them are far more capable of digesting spiritual truths and asking difficult, thoughtful questions than adults usually give them credit for. We're using the Scripture Press materials and the 9 and 10 year old class is learning about Saul and David and the application has a lot to do with interpersonal relationships- a pretty important topic at their age- I forgot how brutal they can be verbally with one another! The other teacher, Susan, allowed me to teach the lesson, and basically I got up and told them the story of David giving the men an equal share of the spoils after they avenged the burning of Ziklag. And an amazing thing happened: they sat quietly and listened! Then one of the girls, Charity, asked, " What happens if two armies trusting the Lord fight each other?" I think David Ober has made comments before on the profound nature of a child's questions, and this was a prime example- I told her that it will be God's will for one to win and one to loose, like trying out for the lead in the musical, only one can get it, but it's still God's will either way. Then she asked about her dad. Chris Williams teaches the college/career Sunday school class and just seems to have a real heart for God, his wife is just a wonderful lady, and here is their daughter asking why, for the last 2 weeks God had allowed her father's heart to beat at a dangerously fast pace, which the doctors seem to be at a loss to completely control. She wanted to know why, when her family was seeking Christ and her friend's family was seeking Christ, He would allow this to happen to her family, her daddy, and not to her friend's. wow . I looked at the other teacher and I was speechless for a few moments. I was overjoyed that she should be asking such deep questions, and at the same time at a loss, because WE ask those same tough questions as adults. The only thing I could tell her was that God wanted to teach them something through this that He can't teach them any other way, but it was REALLY hard to look into that sweet innocent face and say that to her, just one more reason heaven will be so great someday! I'm so excited to go teach Sunday school again this next week, I really want to see God move in their hearts and lives, it is such a blessing if they can learn how to seek answers to real questions in God's Word at a young age, and that is one thing I hope to instill in them- so I covet your prayers- I think that prayer above all else, is what accomplishes these things.

Well, I've written you all a small novel, so I'd better sign off for now- I hope all is well with you, have a GREAT mission's conference! And do greet Cristudas and minister to him when he comes with Bill Shade- he's from India and lives very close to the daily violence the whole nation faces, both amongst the Buddhists and between the Buddhists and the Christians, his wife and children are back in India alone while he's here seeking help from our churches.

Lots of lessons and blessings!

I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post! It feels good to have my laptop back in commission. God is still in the miracle business, and while He may no longer multiply fish, He DOES multiply small things like a check for shipping costs, into big things- my $800 motherboard for free under the last 3 months of my warranty! I think God does things like that just to: A) remind us He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, B) He still controls our vastly complex world down here on planet Earth, and C) is intimately acquainted with the minute details of the lives of His children (wait, didn't I just say something like that a couple months ago? God just continues to amaze me with His personal touch)

As to my work, I think I'm about 2/3 of the way through the Spanish courses, I just finished a 25 lesson series on Thursday and started in on a 24 lesson series after that. I feel a little bad for the Mexican gal doing my proofing- she has quite the mountain of lessons printed out and stacked on her desk ready for her to read. It appears a 3 book- 9 lesson course called "Spirit World" will be the first, officially print ready course in Spanish- a good feeling for me! I'll back up a second here- 2 weeks ago our proofer arrived, a really nice 23-year old girl from Alcupoco, Mexico named Iris. She went on a cruise for her 15th birthday and met her ex-boyfriend who witnessed to her and eventually led her to Christ and then encouraged her to come to the U.S. for college where she attended Pidemont Baptist with a major in missions- isn't it great how God works?! Please pray for Iris, she has to make A LOT of decisions in the next 2 weeks as to whether she is stayng and starting deputation or if she will seek ministry opportunities elsewhere. I hope she stays longer because I need a proofer for longer than two more weeks!

I also had the exciting opportunity just this past Thursday to teach a private art lesson to an 8-year old girl named Melia! She is the Busenitz granddaughter (the couple I am living with). I was invited to a family gathering two weeks ago and since I'm not sports inclined, I started drawing the old brick pump house in the backyard. Her mother saw my sketches and her daughter's interest and called me up! It's neat to me to see how that worked since I've been wanting to teach lessons but running into the roadblock of where I was going to do it. With Melia being a family member, it is logical for her to come over here. She's a bright little girl and she will catch on fast. Consequently, she's also left-handed, which makes teaching easier for this "southpaw" gal!

For those of you who know about my musical interests, fear not! Christmas cantata practice started at the church I'm attending down here and I plan on singing with them. The musical is called "The Road to Bethlehem" and I already have a few of the songs stuck in my head- a mark of a good cantata in my book ;) I've also decided to branch out and I'm going to start assisting the Sunday School teacher for the 9 and 10 year-olds at church. I'm anxious/excited to start, it will be interesting to see what God is going to do through that. One thing I've noticed since being here is that without being in constant contact with the world (actually, more like zero contact) I don't have the opportunities to exhort people and witness conversationally like I once did, so I'm hoping in at least some small way helping out with Sunday School will fill that void in my spiritual life. And speaking of church, it's almost time to leave! I love you all! God Bless.

lesson changes and changes that become lessons

I'm sure it's become apparent that I didn't fix my error that evening. So now I face the task of trying to encapsulate all the events of the last month into a blog entry that won't break the scroll wheel on your mice ;) To begin with, I have moved in with Fran and Gil Busenitz since Judy moving to Eatonton at the end of July. I know God wants me here because He makes no mistakes, and there are lessons in everything, though I must say it was quite an adjustment going from living quite independently at Dix Lodge with Judy and I here and there to the Busenitz, who are a sweet couple in their late 60's with a definite pattern for day-to-day life. So while I'm used to grabbing a bowl of cereal, mug of coffee, and my Bible and heading to my desk for devotions, I've adopted their pattern of half hour to forty-five minute personal devotions before breakfast, followed by hot cereal with toast and fruit listening to Turning Point on the radio. I've noticed that I get more out of my devotions now that they're more structured and my prayer life is more consistent, too- both things I've been desiring for a while even before I left to come down here. It's also been a lesson in humility, as Fran, sweetheart that she is, has pretty much taken over cooking and laundry- something I was actually really enjoying as part of my independent adult life, willingly submitting to the pattern of life in their household has been a process over the last few weeks, but God is working with me.

Now for the lesson changes...
Ray Walker, in thinking over this whole overhaul, has decided we are shuffling how the lessons are dispersed between booklets, which is good because it will save paper in the long run. This was pretty easy to do with the newer books, however, after weeks of avoiding it, I had to tackle the first series I worked on when I got here, because it too had to be shuffled around. InDesign files that were Quark files do strange things the more you copy and paste them- like odd text wraps and layers- it's made me feel like some kind of file detective or doctor, diagnosing the situation or hunting down the culprit responsible for the mysterious missing text in my caption boxes. I've uncovered most of the mysteries and so thankfully I won't have to spend too much time on that series the second time around.
On the end of the lessons I'm building up from scratch, I'm humming along quite well! Each book you do gives more insight into the best order to aproach things like adding text and images and fixing hyphenations, but I think each little tweak I make in the process helps me avoid doing things twice or the long way around. I have high hopes of getting through Spanish at least a month ahead of schedule, although be praying that the woman who contacted us from North Carolina will be able to move down here short-term and do our proofing on-site, because we can't print the re-designed work until we know all the text came over from the scans properly. There is also a distinct probablility that our office will be moving. Initially it was thought that we were safe from the demolition zone, but after the work team this past week gutted half the building (I'm thankful for noise-cancelling earphones ;) it became apparent at least one wall of our office has to go too. I had visions of sitting there working and a sledge hammer randomly crashing through the wall behind me, however they will move us before they start that.

Last week we also had the "Go Tell" crusade here in Madison. It was an old-fashioned Billy Graham affair, and I had the privilege of helping with counseling for the people who came forward to make decisions. And while the crusade was primarily an outreach to the unsaved, I came away realizing how much I miss the opportunities I had to share my faith in day-to-day life when I was literally surrounded by non-believers for the majority of my life. It also made me realize just how many opportunities I had to share Christ that I didn't respond and how I hope I never take them for granted again. The last night was my best counseling night, I had two 15 year-old girls on of which re-dedicated her life Wednesday night and the other who re-dedicated on Saturday at the kick-off. I was excited to share with them the things I've been taught and have learned about how to grow closer to Christ. As I shared them, I was struck with how simple, and yet profoundly true they were- like the children's song we taught to the toddlers " Read your Bible, pray everyday, and you'll grow, grow, grow" And yet the everyday part of that is so true, the Holy Spirit needs building materials in our lives to build us into the image of Christ, and if we aren't giving Him a regular supply to work with, it makes His job that much harder and our lives that much less effective for Christ. Their names are Lynn and Shalie, and I've now added them to my prayer list right alongside Kayla, the 13 year-old granddaughter of Ernie and Peggy Hill at the mission. She just accepted Christ about three weeks ago while staying with her grandparents here and volunteering at the mission. While she's back in Florida now, I've made a committment to disciple and encourage her and just try to be a big sister for her, and I'm excited to do that for these girls as well. It's funny how I originally wanted to teach art lessons as a way of meeting kids to disciple or witness to, and how God has given me three girls this way that I have the opportunity to impact. I'd appreciate prayer for wisdom, compassion, and understanding in this. Keeping in touch with people is a sacrifice of both time and energy, and I'm learning day by day that ministering to people like this is what God has called all of us too just as much as He's called me to do graphics work here at Source of Light at this point in my life. I love you all, and I'm sorry this update is so late in coming- the bios battery on my laptop died now, too, and until I get it replaced, my free time to update people on-line is hard to come by. Thankfully Gil booted up the OLD Dell in the computer room and that is where I am currently. Praise the Lord He provides my NEEDS, not always my fast, Apple G4 laptop desires :) God Bless

Praises and prayers

I'm having some technical difficulties- I'll work out the glitches tonight- sorry! :(

Gifts, great and small

I thought I'd hand-write this one- just to spice things up:)
okay, here is their flickr address: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27713438@N05/- I'm not sure if the pastor has posted more pics since then or not, but whenever you see me- that will be the group that came down.

Life, Death, and Definitions

This has been an interesting two weeks, a study of contrasts I should say. I have the bittersweetness of feeling very at home down here and this feeling of life and vitality coupled with the news of the tragic and untimely death of a very special young man I had the privilege of working alongside throughout choral and musical productions in high school. And in that vein, I have the conflicted feelings of settling here, but very much wanting to be home with the rest of our grieving community. To further complicate this emotional jumble, Amanda Miller, my best friend just got engaged- and I'm so happy for her! And while I can be ecstatically happy from Georgia, a part of me wants to hug her and jump up and down and "ooh" and "ahh" at her ring like best friends do. I suppose this is what they talk about when they say missionaries give something up- because so far I feel like I've been given abundantly more than I ever expected when I told the Lord I'd come down here for a year (or longer, if He sees fit.)

But I know beyond a shadow of a doubt God wants me here right now, all the pieces fit precisely in the timeline God ordained. We had our quarterly half-day of prayer today, my first (obviously) since arriving. It helped so much with my perspective on where the graphics work I've been doing fits into the grand design of things. Most days I know somewhere in the back of my mind that I have an integral part to play, after all, there was a need and that's why I came, but I don't here about it because like the diligent (some say work-a-holic ;) gal that I am, I only leave my office for lunch and bathroom breaks. So today hearing what everyone is doing and the impact our lessons are having all over the globe from our humble headquarters here in Madison helped refresh in my mind just why what we do is so very important. It also occurred to me (this is the definition part) that while I still want to write and illustrate my very own children's book, that God has a way of granting the desires of my heart- but they often come in different packages than I originally expected, what I mean is this:
As an illustrator, one of my great desires would be to a) publish overtly Christian children's books that Christian families can read together, that can get kids excited about their faith in Christ, or lead them to it perhaps. Also b) that I might be able to work in the secular industry in such a way that when,in our internet age, people see my work and look me up on the web, they could read my biography and see some of my other imagery and thus get them to think about Christ that way. Either way, my bottom line has always been that I might be able to use my talents in a way that I can impact the world around me for Christ. Fast-forward to today: I got the global vision again and realized that as I get files ready to print, or (my favorite) re-design old lessons to have more zing when they're re-printed, that while I may not be painting, I am indeed, still impacting the world for Christ through the talents God has given me. And wasn't that my desire in the first place? The problem is: will I let pride get in the way of my triumphing in the joy of this? After 4 years of having a successful illustration career drummed into my head and the object of being a published illustrator so firmly fixed in my mind as the measure of success- my pride wants to tell me I have failed, I am not a success, but if I re-wind back to my heart's desire, I see the REAL truth- that by using my graphics skills here at Source of Light, I am in all likelihood touching more people with the Gospel of Christ through my talents than even my most successful children's book ever may.

And when I really think about success, I find myself thinking about Matt. Because he was VERY fruitful for God's kingdom- it wasn't like he was a disobedient child God took home, on the contrary, he was a shining light. And so while to our human understanding it is completely baffling- in God's eyes, at age 22, before he began his career or got married, two of our biggest human benchmarks for success- Matt's life had fulfilled God's purpose, and his days here were completed. THAT really changes your perspective on success.